KARIN WAEHNER (1926 - 1999) – EIGENSINNIG IN ZWISCHENRÄUMEN (Wilful in Spaces) . A TANZFONDS ERBE Project with WEGEHEN, Celui sans nom – recreation 2018, with an extensive supporting program connects Karin Waehner's past and present in dance, choreography and teaching between generations and experiences. The results of the project will be presented in March 2018 at DOCK 11 and in spring 2018 as a part of TANZWOCHE in Dresden.

While Karin Waehner is considered as a pioneer of modern and contemporary dance in France, her name and work are rather unknown in Germany. This project aims to acknowledge her remarkable legacy in her native country.

In the performance WEGEHEN, individual working principles of Karin Waehner and their contemporary relevance are discussed using sequences from various choreographies. It's about human situations. The interpretations are different for everyone, the movements similar. The choreographic excerpts are reminiscent of a saying by Mary Wigman, who also captures the dancing, choreographic and educational credo of her student Karin Waehner:
"... the simplest, the most difficult, the most beautiful step – the walk. You must work on it all your life." (Mary Wigman, 1952)

Bruno Genty refuses to be "a model" or to provide copies. Annette Lopez Leal and Michael Gross find their own pictures and visibilities. Differences are not eradicated through the dictatorship of perfect synchronization – neither for the dancers nor the audience; neither in creation nor in reconstruction. Therefore, the project is considered a re-creation rather than a re-construction. This is the perspective on dance inheritance, passing on, and updating from the three performers in the project KARIN WAEHNER (1926 - 1999) – EIGENSINNIG IN ZWISCHENRÄUMEN (Wilful in Spaces). A TANZFONDS ERBE Project.

The starting point for WEGEHEN is a solo once created for Bruno Genty as one of Karin Waehner's last pieces. The working title before 1989 was called Derrière le mur (Behind the Wall). For the premiere in 1990, it was titled Celui sans nom (Nameless). It was passed on in a specially defined rehearsal process and is re-performed in 2018 as a trio.

With a fine sense of humor, choreographer and dance teacher Bruno Genty masters the contemporary border between physical action and mental interpretation in the area of tension between abstraction and narration. Genty was trained in France at the time of Maurice Bejart and Pinok et Matho. Through his mentor Karin Waehner, he also refers to Mary Wigman’s and José Limón’s working methods.Bruno Genty is supported by Annette Lopez Leal with whom he combines a style of work inspired by José Limón as well as physical dynamics and analytical musicality.

CELUI SANS NOM
On Alexanderplatz in Berlin in 1986,
it was the eve of the celebration of the October Revolution.
Karin and I were sitting on a bench overlooking the house where one of her friends lived she wanted to visit.
We waited for the signal: It should turn the light in her living room.
We waited.
Pedestrians passed.
They walked like vending machines, their eyes fixed on the floor.
They walked quietly and carried their plastic bags.
They wanted to show nothing, not to look at anything.
They even had the desire to be alone in the crowd – a hope.
4 years later I commissioned a solo from Karin ....
... and everything came
and everything was back
on Alexanderplatz on 6 October 1986
(Bruno Genty, 1990)